More Than Anything
by BrucasEqlsluv
Summary: Their love was epic, everlasting, eternal. They loved each other too much for teenage hearts to bare. Their future was set in stone until one act of betrayal changes it all. "I love you Lucas. So much it hurts. But I don't want to hurt anymore, I can't"


**Ok so this is a two part AU Brucas story I wrote. It's a little bit sappy, it's a little bit angsty but I hope you like it! Let me know what you think and if you want me to post part 2!  
>Have a good weekend.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong><span>More<span> Than Anything**

**Part**** 1**

She shook out her brunette locks in fury as she marched through the halls of Tree Hill high. Red heels smacked angrily on the ground with every step she took. Students around her knew to stand back, yes they all knew, when Brooke Davis was in a bad mood she was a force to be reckoned with. Spotting her target, hazel eyes narrowed. "Lucas" she hissed as her blond boyfriend swivelled around to face her.

"Hey Pret-" He barely had time to register her presence before a hand shot out to smack him dead in the face.

"You are a fucking asshole." Turning away, she stormed out the nearest exit and into the quad. It only took Lucas seconds to follow her.

"Brooke! WAIT! BROOKE!" She didn't turn, hot angry tears were streaming down her face. She felt lost, how could she let him hurt her like this again? Did he not understand how much she loved him? Did he not understand that every part of her being loved him, ached for him. Did he even care? "Stop, please." He grabbed her arm, spinning her around. She recoiled from him with such force, her body went hurtling to the ground.

"Ouch" Raspy tone sounded nothing but defeated as she scraped off the dirt from her skin tight jeans. In a flash Lucas was on the ground next to her.

"Hey, are you alright?" He reached to help her up but she once again pushed him away, standing on her own.

"Don't touch me!" She all but yelled at him, he frowned at her.

"Why are you so angry? Baby, I thought we were doing well. Really well." The blond's mind wandered back to a few nights before when they had spent the entire weekend in bed, laughing, making love and just talking. It was on one of those amazing nights he had decided he was going to ask her to marry him the night of graduation, hell, the ring was sitting in his draw at home.

"How could I let you do this to me again!" The tears wouldn't stop falling, she couldn't even muster the strength to wipe them away. Lucas hated seeing her cry, especially when it seemed he was the source of her pain.

"Do what-"

"I forgave you Lucas, I forgave you!"

"I know and there isn't a day that goes by that I am not grateful for that. You mean everything to me-"

"Then why." She sniffled angrily "WHY did you do it again Luc, how could you hurt me again-"

"I don't-"

"You slept with her LUCAS! You slept with Peyton." Blue eyes closed in realisation, she had found out, he always figured she would, he had wanted to tell her a million times but could never muster the courage. The thought of losing her again was too much to bare. And then there was that night, all he wanted to do was forget it. He had never in his life regretted anything as much as the night he slept with his (then) ex-girlfriends best friend.

"Brooke-"

"Are you going to deny it?" He hung his head, unable to meet her eye. The brunette let out a hiss. "How could I be so fucking stupid to fall for your words again."

"You're not stupid. I am. I am an idiot. A complete moron. I just missed you so much, and I was drunk-"

"Don't you DARE make excuses."

"I'm not, I swear I'm not. But we weren't together Brooke, you broke up with me."  
>"So that gives you permission to jump into bed with my BEST friend TWO days later?"<p>

"No but baby, you know I would never cheat on you. Ever."

"It still hurts."

"I know, but I love you. More than anything. I love you Brooke."

"Do you?" Her eyes radiated nothing but hurt and anger as they bore into him "because you know what I was doing the night you decided to get drunk with Peyton? Do you know where I was?" Silence enveloped them as Brooke angrily wiped away some of the tears that clouded her eyes. "I was at home, crying. Missing you. Wondering if I had been too harsh. Wondering if maybe, just maybe, I should forgive you for leaving me without so much as a call for TWO months! And while I was pining away over a boy I was COMPLETELY in love with, even after all of the fights, ALL of the yelling, he was out screwing my best friend, having the time of his life."

"Thats's not how it happened-"

"How could you?"

"Brooke please, I was depressed and drunk, there is not a day that goes by that I don't regret it. I thought you were never going to forgive me, I thought we were over."

"That's not the point Lucas! Don't you get it. I couldn't even fathom leaving my bed let alone being with someone else. The thought of any other guy would have made me sick to my stomach yet you had no problem getting hard and running your hands all over Peyton." She gagged at the thought as her heart tugged once again. She wondered how much more pain it could take. "You just proved what I've known all along." He studied her face with a serious expression, completely dumbfounded as to what she was going to say next. "I have and I always will love you more than you love me." His eyes grew wide, how could she say that? He loved her more than anything else in the world. Even when the bickered, even when she was in a pissy mood and just wanted to start a fight with him, when she would argue something that was completely wrong just to prove she was right. He loved her. He had always and would always be in love with Brooke Davis.

"That is NOT true." Chocolate tresses swayed lightly in the wind as the cheerleader shook her head.

"It is and I've always been OK with it because there hasn't been a day that I wasn't so completely in love with you. I didn't care but then- you left."

"I told you a million times Brooke, that had nothing to do with you. I left because I needed to get away, I needed to escape just for a little while. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about or love you."

"You could have told me you were leaving, you could have called-"

"I know but after everything that happened, I just needed space from Tree Hill."

"When something bad happens to me Lucas, when I lost my dad, I wanted, hell, I NEEDED to be around you because you were the only thing that made sense. You were the only thing that made anything better. Then when you lost Keith." She gulped "You ran as far away from me as you could. You packed up and left and I was here. By myself. With no idea if you would ever come back. Do you have any idea how that felt? How heartbreaking it was to know that in their hour of need, the person you love more than anything else would rather be on the run than with you."

"I have told you how sorry I am Brooke, you forgave me-" She nodded

"I know. I did, but then this happened and it made it clear, you and I. We're just not supposed to be Lucas."

"Don't say that." Her head dropped, she couldn't look at him as she said the next words.

"If you could feel what I feel for you, if you could understand that then maybe you could understand why we need to be over. You deserve to be with someone you feel that way about and I- I deserve to be with someone who feels that way about me. Because I can't do it anymore, I can't keep pretending. I can't be the girl who is in love with the boy who wants something better."

"Do you really feel that way?" Lucas couldn't stand it, had he really made her feel that unworthy? Had she thought all this time he didn't love her? She was the love of his life, he had never doubted that for a second.

"Yes."

"I do love you Brooke Davis, I love you so much. You are it for me, I've known that since the first day we met." He let in the longest, hardest breath he had ever had to take. "But if this entire time you have doubted that, then you're right. You do deserve better." His insides were screaming at him to stop. Just stop talking. Take her in his arms and never let go. How had this all happened? An hour ago his life was fine, it was better than that, it was amazing. He had a future, a life imagined with the girl he loved and now everything was crumbling, moving away from his reach. How had it happened? He knew too well. Ten months ago his Uncle Keith had died after being shot by his own brother, Lucas' father, Dan Scott. Unable to stand the heartbreak, Lucas had fled Tree Hill without telling a soul, only to return when he had dealt with issues he hadn't been able to handle in his home town...

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><p><strong><em>8 Months Earlier<em>**

_The red Mustang had been sitting in the street for over three hours, the unwavering blue eyes of seventeen year old Lucas Scott stared out from the drivers seat, studying the house opposite him. A house he recognised well. His mind couldn't help but wander back to the amount of times he had walked through that very red door, to be greeted by the excitable brunette he had been in love with for the past two years. The mere thought of her made him giddy. Two months had been too long to spend away from her. Even in the midst of the crippling sadness he had felt over the death of the only father-figure he had ever known, he had missed her. Truth be told, she was the only reason he had even come back to town. He knew he could have called his mother from the road, called Haley and Nathan and Skills and Mouth, let them know he was safe and that he would be staying with his Aunt in Maine to finish his last year of high-school. He could get a job, a house, a life, away from all the hurt this town brought. _

_The fatal flaw in the plan was Brooke Davis, the girl he loved too much for a seventeen-year old heart to bare. Yes the thought of running from his issues and never coming back was tempting, no, it was downright perfect, at least it would have been if it weren't for her. Leaving Tree Hill, his mother, his friends, the only home he had ever known would be hard but possible. Leaving her, was not. No, for Lucas Scott, there was no life without Brooke Davis. So he had come home, driven for sixteen hours straight, right to her door and waited. She wasn't home, he could tell by a glance at the house, maybe she wouldn't even be home tonight but he didn't care. He would wait._

_ As he ran a hand through his disheveled blond locks, letting out a deep sigh, the familiar hum of a car coming up the road sounded, he froze. His ears pricked. Was it her? Sure enough, moments later a blue VW pulled into the driveway of the Davis household. Lucas' eyes did not once move from the car. It was as if time stood still. Then one door opened and out stepped the brunette he had not been able to stop thinking about, and it was as if it was the first time he had taken a real breath in two months. He studied her as she held her handbag, walking towards the letter box to check the mail, the first thing he noticed was her eyes, they weren't how he remembered, the usual spark was gone, replaced with a sadness he hoped he would never see in her again. Then there was her body, he had only been gone two months, how had she gotten so thin? She had always had the perfect figure, toned, tanned, voluptuous, now she almost looked skeletal, it worried him. She had made it to the front porch by now and Lucas quickly gathered his thoughts as he stepped from his car, walking swiftly to her front lawn._

_"Brooke." He let out in a voice un-like his own. The brunette froze in the process of fumbling with her keys, she closed her eyes, swallowing the lump in her throat._

_"If I turn around and it's not you, I won't be able to take it." Her voice was shaky, unsure. She would recognise his voice anywhere yet two months without him, two months of thinking she spotted him somewhere only to be disappointed had made her weary._

_"Turn around Pretty Girl." She obeyed, her eyes instantly focusing on the tall teen standing on the edge of her lawn. The mail, the keys and her bag dropped from her hands as she starred. Lucas was pleased to see the spark he had missed once again return to her eyes._

_"Lucas." She whispered, taking a few steps toward him, the blond did the same. Pretty soon they were all but running at each other and then, she was in his arms again. He held her as she kissed his neck, his face, every part of him she could reach. He just buried his face in her hair, surrounded himself with her, holding her tightly, scared to let go. They stood like that for a while, just holding each other before Brooke finally pulled away. Foggy Hazel eyes stared up at him, her hands reaching to touch his face as if she needed to make sure he was real._  
><em>"I-I didn't know if you were ever coming back." She said shakily "I didn't know if you were OK, no one had heard from you. Lucas-" Letting out a deep breath, the young lover stared at her boyfriend "if anything had happened to you I would- I would have-" The raspy voice stopped, the pure though of anything bad happening to the man in front of her, too much to bare.<em>

_"I am so sorry Pretty Girl, I am so sorry. I shouldn't have left you. I love you so much, I'm sorry." Brooke's only response was a small whimper before she buried her face in his chest and cried._

_Later, they sat in the Davis' living room in silence. It had been a few hours since his return and after forcing Lucas to ring his mother to let her know he was back in town, Brooke had not let him out of her sight. There was so much that needed to be said but for the while she was enjoying being in his arms, feeling his heart beat, knowing he was here with her, safe, and not out doing something reckless. They stayed like that until the sun had set and the house had turned dark, yet neither bothered to stand and turn on a light. It was with a heavy heart Brooke pulled away from the embrace. Ready to say the words she knew needed to be said yet hated none the less._

_"Lucas." She whispered through the dark, she could see him watching her face intently, he reached up to wipe a strand of hair away from her face._

_"Brooke." He said with a small smile that broke her heart. How was she supposed to go through with this? She sighed._

_"I can't be with you anymore." The young ballers face completely changed into a look of surprise and hurt._

_"What?"_

_"We can't be together Lucas."_

_"We are together now, and this feels better than I have felt in forever. I missed you so much Brooke."_

_"Yet you didn't call." She said softly "Or let me know you were OK in anyway. You didn't say goodbye. I didn't know if I was ever going to see you again."_

_"Of course you were, you know I would never leave you."_

_"You did."_

_"But I came back, I was always coming back."_

_"I didn't know that, not knowing if you were safe or if I was ever going to see you again. Luc, it nearly killed me. I haven't been able to eat or sleep or do anything. This was the worst summer of my life."_

_"Mine too. I missed you so much Brooke. Please know that me going had nothing to do with you, I had things I needed to work out but I came back, for you, you are the only reason I am here."_

_"That's not a good enough reason."_

_"It is."_

_"If I am really the only reason you came back to Tree Hill, then you never would have left in the first place."_

_"I left because-"_

_"Of Keith, I know and I am so sorry. I loved him too Luc, you know I did. I would have been there for you through everything, I would have come with you If you'd have asked. I would have sat in Tree Hill and waited for you to get closure, however long it took, if you had only said goodbye, if you had just told me you were coming back."_

_"I'm so sorry for what I put you through Brooke. But I love you, more than anything. That never stopped." A few tears spilled down the brunettes cheek._

_"I love you too Lucas. So much that it hurts. I don't want to hurt anymore, I can't. How can I be with you if I don't know if you will leave again and maybe never come back next time? After this year, highschool will be over. You will have no real reason for being in Tree Hill anymore." Two masculine hands reached up to take her face in his, he looked deep into her eyes, desperate for his next sentence to reach her._

_"You." He said in a stern voice "YOU will always be the reason to be in Tree Hill. I didn't come back for high school. I came back for you."_

_"Then maybe you need to leave again."_

_"I won't go again Brooke, I promise. Pretty Girl, please don't leave me."_

_"You left me first." She sniffled. "And I'm trying to find a way to forgive you but I just, can't. Two months without you was unbearable and I can't be in love with you like I am, I have to find a way to stop it because you broke my heart and even with you here, in front of me, I can't stop the pain."_

_"Causing you pain is the last thing I ever want to do Brooke. Being without you for the last two months was unbearable for me too."_

_"No it wasn't." She shook her head "Because if it was, you would have come home to me. You had the choice, you choose not to call. I had no choice Lucas, my only option was to sit and wait and hope that you decided to come back."_

_"Brooke-" The brunette had stood from the couch._

_"I'm sorry Lucas, I just can't do this. I can't be with you anymore. I love you. I always will but you and I are over." She turned and walked down the hallway to her room without looking back, leaving a devastated Lucas behind._

_The next few days had been torture for the blond, so much so that he had turned to the bottle, using the fake-ID Brooke had got for him a year earlier. Everyday he would turn up at her house begging for her forgiveness and when he was denied, he would flee to the nearest Tree Hill bar. It was in said bar that Peyton had found him wallowing. After trying and failing to get him to go home, she had joined him, after all she herself was recovering from her recent heartbreaking break-up with her boyfriend of a year Jake Jigalski. Together they polished off more drinks than either could handle and it wasn't long before they had fallen into bed together. They both woke with splitting headaches and an agonising feeling of guilt in their stomachs, agreeing that it would be best if they didn't tell Brooke._

_It took her another month before she finally agreed to get back together with him, Lucas had been overjoyed, the cold shoulder she had given him since his return had been completely different to the way she had ever acted around him before. He had hated it more than anything and had honestly believed she would never really forgive him for leaving her. But she had and that was the best day of his life, even though guilt still wrecked his body every time he looked into the Hazel eyes that were filled with nothing but love._

* * *

><p><strong>Present<strong>

It had been three months since Brooke had broken up with Lucas and the time apart had been worse than anything either had ever experienced. Avoiding each other at school, insuring they didn't make plans at the same spot or with the same friends on the weekend, trying to ignore the crippling heartbreak both felt as the end of their schooling drew nearer. Then, as if out of nowhere, the graduation day arrived. All the students lined up with their cap and gowns, excitement ebbing through them. Lucas would later recall how his heart skipped a beat as Brooke stood to accept her certificate, her brunette locks cascading down her back as she flashed the smile he was so in love with. Brooke herself would recall how handsome Lucas looked as he stood on stage in the blue gown that almost matched his eyes. Her heart tugged knowing that even though he was only across the room, she missed him more than anything.

Soon after came the graduation party held by none other than Brooke's best friend Rachel Gattina. The night was epic, to say the least, starting early, at 4:30pm, half an hour after the seniors had been let out of their final assembly. Cheering with light hearts, they all packed into cars and headed to the abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town. Some chose to change, others stayed in their gowns. EVERYONE was drunk by eight and by ten the party had really gotten wild. But no one cared. This was their time. Their day. Their night. Goodbye Tree Hill High, you will never see us again. We were the best class you ever had.

As the clock struck twelve Brooke had decided to head home, she had an amazing time having a last hurrah with her best friends yet it was exhausting spending so much of her time avoiding Lucas and besides, she had a plane to catch the following day. Saying goodbye to everyone was the hardest thing she had ever had to do but somehow she managed to get through it, knowing that no matter what she WOULD see these people again. She loved them all too much not to.

Walking into her house, the brunette slumped on the couch, only then realising how drunk she actually was. Giggling at the memory of earlier in the night when Haley had recounted walking in on her parents having sex when she had gone home to change for the party. Rachel had made the blonde tutor drink Tequila shots until she forgot the ordeal and Brooke, never one to leave a man (or woman) behind, had joined her in the escapade. A lot of the rest of the party was fuzzy from there. Letting out a raspy groan as she realised she had to get up early the next morning, Brooke rolled onto her side, rationalising that she would nap on the couch until she gathered the strength to move to her bedroom. Her eyes had only been closed for a few moments before there was a knock at the door, she let out another groan. "GO AWAY!" She yelled, not wanting to get up from where she was so damn comfy. But the knocking persisted and with an angry grunt, she rose from her place, walking towards the red door she had lived behind for the past eighteen years and throwing it open.

In front of her stood Lucas, wearing the same suit he had worn to graduation, sans tie. Seeing him in front of her, a stern look upon his face, immediately sobering her.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice was cold, colder than she had meant it to come out, but that was what happened when you killed Brooke Davis' buzz, an unforgivable act in her world.

"You weren't even going to say goodbye?" His own voice sounded hurt, dejected. "Can we please talk?"

"I've said everything I need to say to you." Blue eyes met Hazel in a pleading stare

"Brooke, c'mon." The brunette sighed in defeat.

"Alright, I have some vodka in my room, wanna drink?"

"Sure." He followed his ex-girlfriend towards her room, a room he had shared with her on many occasions before, taking a place on her bed as she made them both drinks. Handing one over when she was done, she took a place next to him on the bed.

"So you're leaving for california with Peyton tomorrow?" He said in what he hoped wasn't too bitter of a tone. It angered him that the curly blonde artist had been let off the hook after only a month, while he himself had been left in the cold.

"That's the plan."

"Are you excited?"

"Yes."

"Brooke."

"What?"

"Be honest." She sighed, hating that he knew her so well. Taking a sip of her drink, she met his eyes.

"I'm scared Luc."

"Of what?"

"Of leaving, having to go into the world without high school. I was _good _at high school." Lucas chuckled.

"I know you were."

"What if I'm not good at life without it? What if all I was ever supposed to be was the pretty-popular girl who ruled the school? That could be all I'm ever going to be, my one crowning achievement. My tombstone could read 'Here lies Brooke Davis. She couldn't survive in the world but she did have a hell of an ass for cheerleading.'" Another masculine laugh sounded, Brooke had always been able to make him laugh, Lucas was granted a shove from the petite ex-cheerleader. "Don't laugh at me you ass."

"I'm not laughing at you Brooke, I'm laughing because it is ridiculous. You are hands down the most charismatic, stubborn, smart, funny and kind person I have ever met in my life. That doesn't just get you through high-school, it makes you pretty great at life already. You don't know it yet but trust me when I say if there is one person who is NOT going to fail after high school, it's you Brooke Davis." She smiled softly at him.

"Thanks Lucas."

"I mean it Pretty Girl, the world doesn't stand a chance." They sat in silence for a moment, both registering that this was the most they had talked in what felt like forever, and somehow, whether it be because of the the alcohol, the end of school or their history together, it was comfortable.

"I can't have a life that you're not in Brooke." He had wanted to say this to her for a long time. "I know you will never forgive me. I fucked us up so badly and I will never forgive myself either but I can't have a life that you are not a part of. I won't live that life."

"I don't want a life without you either Lucas." It was little more than a whisper but he heard it, she brought her eyes up to meet his "I don't forgive you, I can't. Because you broke us, you broke my heart. But that doesn't mean I ever want you out of my life, it doesn't mean that I don't love you, because I always will. I don't think anything will ever change that."

"Then why have you been avoiding me for so long?"

"Because it hurts to see you, it hurts being in a room with you knowing that we will never again be what we were. I need to go away, get out of Tree Hill so I can get over you and when that happens, we can be friends. We will always be friends."

"I'll always be here for you Brooke, you know that right?"

"I do." They smiled at each other as they both raised their glasses, clinking them before downing the contents, Lucas let out a cough.

"What the hell did you put in that?"

"Vodka and Orange juice."

"There wasn't much orange juice."

"Lighten up Broody, it's graduation." She shrugged, shooting him a cheeky smile.

"It never seises to amaze me how you can go from being serious to a completely bubbly in a second flat."

"It's a gift." He laughed again, before reaching up to cup her face in his hand as he put down his glass.

"I'm really proud of you Brooke, you know that? You're leaving Tree Hill, going after your dreams, you have grown more as a person in the three years I have known you than anyone else has in their entire lives. You have gone from being a great person to the most amazing person I have ever met and I don't doubt it's only up from here" The fashionista bit her lip.

"That means a lot to me, coming from you."

"She was fiercely independent, Brooke Davis. Brilliant, and beautiful, and brave. In three years she had grown more than anyone I had ever known. Brooke Davis is going to change the world someday. I'm not sure she even knows it" Brooke furrowed her brow.

"What?"

"It's an exert from a book."

"What book?"

"The one I wrote."

"You wrote a book?" Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Yes, about this, high-school, basketball-" he paused "you."

"How did I not know about this?"

"I've kept it secret from everyone but really, I've only really started getting into since we-" He stopped, not wanting to say the words. Brooke nodded in understanding.

"Well that's great Lucas, I'm so proud of you too."

"No one knows yet, only you."

"I feel privileged to be your con-fi-dante"

"I'm going to miss you Brooke Davis."

"I'm going to miss you too Lucas Scott." She brought her head down to his neck, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders as he wrapped his around her petite frame. Minutes passed as Lucas gently kissed her head, his heart was breaking, the reality that she was leaving hitting him yet again. He had screwed up so badly. A moment of bad judgement meant he was no longer allowed to follow Brooke to the college of her choice. He couldn't call her everyday just to hear the sound of her voice or kiss her just because he felt like it. He wouldn't be spending the rest of his life with her and he had no one to blame but himself. It was at that moment he remembered that tonight was supposed to be the night he would ask her to marry him. He couldn't stand it.

As she pulled away, he reached down to place a soft kiss on her lips, she seemed surprised at first but then she smiled. That dimpled smile he didn't know how he would live without. She reached a manicured hand up to run a finger along his lips, he watched her intently, unsure as to what her next move would be. Then she moved in closer to him and softer than anything he had ever felt before in his life, placed her lips on his. It was a moment before she moved them. Slowly. He reciprocated, moving at the same speed. Electricity shot through both of their bodies at the intimate moment yet all too soon it was over, Brooke had pulled away, still smiling. They stayed like that for what seemed like a lifetime before Lucas brought his hand up to tangle in Brooke's brunette locks, pulling her in to meet his lips once again, this time in a rough passionate embrace that neither wanted to end. Both could feel the effects of their last drink washing over them but neither cared. It wasn't long beofre Brooke was stradling Lucas and he was picking her up, flipping them over so that he was ontop of her on the bed. He pulled away, looking into her now lust-filled hazel eyes.

"I love you Brooke Davis, I love you so much." Brook blinked up at him, she didn't want to think about this right now, she didn't want to think about the future they were never going to have. She just wanted to be with him. Now. In this moment. A final, tipsy, goodbye to the relationship that had meant so much to her for so long.

"Don't say it, just kiss me." She whispered and the blond obeyed, reaching down to once again capture her lips.

* * *

><p>Lucas awoke alone, for a moment he panicked, scared that Brooke had fled before he had any chance to talk to her. He breathed a huge sigh of relief when she walked from the bathroom, nothing but a sheet covering her flawless body.<p>

"Hey" She whispered in a raspy tone causing him to smile.

"Hey" He whispered back as she sat down on the bed, not facing him. It was clear at this point that both were completely sober. The young writer sat up in bed, scooting over to wrap his arms around his ex. He kissed her bare back softly before lightly dragging his teeth across her shoulder. The brunette let out an involuntary moan. Lucas had always had a power over her that no one else did. A power over her heart, her mind and her body. She hated and loved it more than anything else in the world.

"This doesn't change anything Luc." The blond sighed.

"I know." He kissed her neck lightly, still holding her from behind as her head fell back to rest on his shoulder "But just lie with me for a little longer. Please." She shook her head.

"I can't, Peyton is picking me up in an hour, we are having breakfast with her dad before we leave"

"Cancel."

"Lucas-"

"Please, cancel. What time do you _need _to be at the airport?"

"Twelve" Lucas checked the clock, it was six am, if she stayed here in his arms he could have her for another five hours before they would have to leave.

"Let me take you, just stay with me a little bit longer." Hazel eyes closed as Brooke took in the feeling of having the masculine arms wrapped around her. Even after everything he had done, he still made her feel safer than she had ever felt in her life.

"OK."

So she called Peyton and told her she would see her at the airport and then the two had gone back to bed. They made love, staring into each others eyes, neither breaking the gaze once. And when it was over Lucas held her in his arms as she dragged her fingers softly across his skin. There was nothing else to be said, inside each knew that their heart was breaking. Eventually Brooke got up to shower and Lucas joined her, until she kicked him out so she could get ready. He packed her bags into the car and returned to see her staring at the almost-empty room.

"I'm going to miss this place." She whispered into the silence.

"Me too." Lucas agreed.

On the ride to the airport, he took her hand in his and didn't let go of it once. He kept his eyes on the road, afraid that if he looked at her he would not be able to continue driving. As they arrived, he unpacked her stuff as she waited on the curb for him, her face sombre.

"Smile Davis, I love to see you smile." He walked up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist, he could see the tears in her eyes.

"Not today." Lucas reached down to place a soft kiss on her head. "I love you Lucas. I want it to stop, but I don't know how. I really don't want it hurt anymore." The blonds heart broke as he stared at the woman he loved more than anything. He hated himself for being the one who caused her this pain.

"I know Pretty Girl, I love you too. I know you have some crazy doubts about that but it is true. I love you and I always will." He kissed her softly on the lips "but if loving me hurts you, you need to go and do this, get over me Brooke because you deserve better. You deserve someone who doesn't hurt you."  
>"But I don't want to leave you." She chocked through the tears that now fell down her face. Blue eyes bore into her as Lucas made a final selfless decision. If he really loved her, which he did, he needed to let her go. It was time for him to stop being so selfish, to finally stop causing her so much pain.<p>

"If I thought for a second that staying here, being with me, is what you really wanted, I would drag you home right now and demand that we stay in bed for the next week." She let out a raspy chuckle at his words "but I know that is not what you really want. I'm not what you really want anymore." Brooke shook her head.

"I do."

"But you don't want to want me."

"Does that matter?"

"Yes" he frowned "because if being with me makes you unhappy in anyway, I can't do it. I want you to be happy more than anything else in this world. Being with me is no longer what makes that possible and it's my fault, that is something I have to live with for the rest of my life, but you don't."

"But-"

"There are no buts, this isn't me pushing you away, this is me finally being the man I should have been for you since the start. Go to Los Angeles and be happy, don't forget me but forget the feelings you have for me."

"I'd never forget you Lucas."

"Good because I need you in my life Brooke, even if I can't be with you." She reached onto her toes to kiss him on the lips, he reciprocated, wondering if this was the last time he would ever get to kiss her like this, hold her like this.

"Goodbye Luc" She whispered one last time before grabbing her bag and walking into the busy airport.

"Goodbye Pretty Girl" He watched with a heavy heart as she disappeared into the crowd. Letting out a deep groan, he go into his car and drove home.


End file.
